Not only TV dramas but movies also had a poor 2022. Many Vietnam films of many different types hit the screen but only a few of them succeeded, while the remaining suffered big losses.

Two of the successful films were “Em va Trinh’ (You and Trinh) and ‘Bay ngot ngao’ (Naked Truth). Though they raised controversy, they were successful in raising revenue. The former had revenue of nearly VND100 billion, while the latter had VND83.2 billion. 

These were also two Vietnamese firms listed among the most searched on Google Vietnam 2022.

But failure was the common fate of all remaining films.

The latest failure is ‘Thanh Soi’, an action film with a big investment by Ngo Thanh Van. Critics all agree that the movie is in no way inferior to the products of famous cinemas in the world. 

However, the film still failed with modest revenue of VND8.5 billion from December 23 to December 29. Analysts believe revenue won’t be better in the second week of being on the air. 

Though ‘Thanh Soi’ is rated higher than ‘Hai Phuong’ (Fury) which was screened before, Thanh Soi is not likely to obtain revenue of VND200 billion like its predecessor. 

There are some reasons behind the failure, according to analysts. First, the film hit the screen just one week after Avatar 2, when the appeal of the blockbuster of the decade remained very strong. 

Second, ‘Thanh Soi’ is labeled as an ‘18+’ film with violence and sex scenes, so the audience is restricted.

Third, after the pandemic, people still hesitate to go to cinemas. In the last two years, people have got used to watching films online.

Fourth, and most importantly, Thanh Soi was brought to the audience when confidence in Vietnamese films had dropped dramatically after a series of very poor products.

That is why Thanh Soi, though having higher quality than other films, suffered the same fate. The producer could not predict that the taste of audiences has become different from the time when ‘Fury’ was screened three years ago.

The producer of ‘Thanh Soi’ did not reveal the production cost of the film, but analysts believe the figure must be higher than ‘Trang Ti’ (VND43 billion) which was also produced by Ngo Thanh Van.

Prior to that, ‘578: Phat dan cua ke dien’ (578 Magnum) with the production cost of VND60 billion, hit the screen last May and got the revenue of VND3.5 billion. The film was withdrawn from cinemas after 10 days.

Unprofitable films were numerous in 2022. Ly Nha Ky, the producer and actress of ‘Ke thu ba’ injected VND33 billion into ‘Ke thu ba’, but earned VND962 million only and the film was withdrawn from cinemas.

Another work considered a ‘screen disaster’ was ‘Cu lao xac song’ (Lost in Mekong Delta). The film earned revenue of VND12.8 billion as it stirred curiosity when introduced as the first Vietnamese film about zombies. However, the film was boycotted later when the audience complained about the quality of the film.

Vietnamese tend to turn their back on Vietnam’s films because of low quality and careless production.  ‘Huyen su vua Dinh’ (Tale of Dinh King) and ‘Virus cuong loan’ (Hysterical virus) were quickly thrown out of cinemas with low revenue of VND42 million and VND157 million, respectively.

In the past, a film would be listed among unsuccessful works if it had revenue of several billion dong. Many new records in low revenue have been set recently. The call from Vietnamese film producers to watch Vietnamese films still cannot bring audiences to cinemas.

Disappointed by some Vietnamese films, audiences now tend to choose foreign movies. It is not easy to persuade people to go to cinemas as they have many choices, including high-quality films on online platforms.